June 3 news

Published by jwettschreck on Monday, June 3rd, 2013

PIPESTONE – Physician’s Assistant Dan Woldt of Slayton has been hired at the Pipestone County Medical Center. Woldt will fill a position left vacant by the departure of Melissa Scotting and help fill in at the Edgerton clinic during the six month medical leave of Dr. Matthew Viel. Woldt, who worked for the Murray County Medical Center, is currently involved in a civil lawsuit against the Slayton facility and its CEO, Mel Snow.

BOYDEN, Iowa — An alleged illegal alien living in Worthington has been charged with identity theft in Iowa. The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa reports they investigated a report of identity theft last week. The report said the identity theft had been occurring at a business in Boyden.

Upon further investigation, deputies determined that 22-year-old Santos Sorto of Worthington was using the identity of another person to gain employment at SIG International in Boyden.

As a result of the investigation, the Sioux County Sheriff’s Office arrested Sorto and charged him with identity theft and forgery.

JACKSON – Heartland Security, a subsidiary of Federated Rural Electric in Jackson, has been awarded Dealer of the Year honors by Interlogix Global Security Products. It's the second time in four years that Heartland Security has received the award, which was announced at the Interlogix dealer conference in Palm Springs, Calif.

Interlogix Sales Manager Grant Copple, presented the award to Heartland Security for being “a strong company with dedicated and hardworking manager and team”.

Heartland Security grew 28 percent in 2012 based on a strong video focus and an aggressive expansion strategy.

VAN METER, Iowa — Republican David Young, who was U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s top aide, is running for Iowa’s other U.S. Senate seat in 2014. Young said Sunday that after talking with friends and family he decided to run for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring five-term Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin.

SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa - An organizational meeting is scheduled this week regarding a new dog park in the lakes area. Organizers will gather at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Spirit Lake Library, and the general public is invited to view a power point containing details. Organizer Amy Pas said they are looking for an area at least six acres that is centrally located.

IOWA – The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday was called to the Grand Falls Casino for a report of an assault shortly after 1 a.m. The deputy met with a male who said his girlfriend Michelle Weisser assaulted him on the casino floor. Weisser, age 34, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was arrested for simple assault and transported to the Lyon County Jail.

ARNOLD’S PARK, Iowa — One of America’s oldest roller coasters, located in northwest Iowa, is back in business after a major rehabilitation project.

About one-third of the 15-hundred foot track was replaced. Further renovations to the old coaster will be done over the next three to five years. Lorenzon says simply demolishing the Legend was not even considered. The coaster is the park’s number one attraction.

MOORHEAD - Bismarck-based WBI Energy Inc. plans to build a 400-mile pipeline that would move natural gas from western North Dakota’s booming oil fields to an existing pipeline in Moorhead. The line could initially transport roughly 400 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and could be expanded to more than 500 million cubic feet per day.

The company expects the project to cost between $650 million and $700 million. About one-third of natural gas in North Dakota is burned off as an unwanted byproduct of crude production.

MINNESOTA - The Minnesota Legislature approved a general-fund omnibus bill that includes $10 million for the Minnesota Film and TV board’s movie-luring rebate program. Lucinda Winter, the board’s executive director, said it’s not enough to attract major blockbusters like “Hunger Games” or “Iron Man,” but “it puts us back in the game to land small to midsize movies like ‘Magic Mike’ or ‘Silver Linings Playbook.’”

Oversight of the film board is also shifting from the Office of Tourism to the Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The program started in 1997, but it was cut by Jesse Ventura in 2002 and then reinstated in 2006. From 2007 to 2011, the film board paid out $4.6 million to film and video projects, but in return attracted $28 million in private spending in the state, according to one report. The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board also approved an incentive program last year to entice filmmakers to shoot movies on the Iron Range.

NATION - It's not unusual for the Supreme Court to find itself at the center of national debates, but this month, justices are poised to deliver opinions involving three of the most divisive issues in the public arena.

By June's end, Americans will know if and how public colleges and universities may administer programs designed to enroll more minority students. They will also know whether a key 1965 Voting Rights Act provision will survive, and with it federal monitoring of places with histories of discriminatory voting practices. And if congressional action barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage is constitutional, and similar state restrictions enforceable.

There is speculation that the conservative court will diminish the ability of public colleges and universities to use race as a favoring factor in enrollment. And that it will hem in the federal government's ability to monitor voting practices in specific jurisdictions — mostly in the South.

But while the court may be poised to curtail those programs, it also seems ready to expand federal, if not state, marriage recognition to same-sex couples.